Rio Olympics 2016: Sonny Bill Williams and Wayde van Niekerk in photo faux pas

Sonny Bill Williams and Rafael Nadal in the Olympic village. Photo / via Twitter

South Africa's champion world record 400m runner was ordered to remove a photo of himself on Twitter standing alongside his hero Sonny Bill Williams.

Not everyone was happy with the photo of Wayde van Niekerk and Williams who was at the Olympics representing New Zealand in the sevens rugby event because of the clothing the South African was wearing.

You.co.za reported the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee bosses told the gold medalist to remove the photo from Twitter because he was wearing his sponsor Adidas' clothing.

Meet the 400m world champ today such a humble dude, good luck my South African brother @WaydeDreamer #Rio2016 pic.twitter.com/n4hTAVFjHD

— Sonny Bill Williams (@SonnyBWilliams) August 4, 2016

The South African Olympics team had apparently been told they were only allowed to post photos of themselves wearing clothes supplied by the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee or the International Olympic Committee, You.co.za wrote.

However both van Niekerk and Williams were apparently stoked to meet each other, both posting the photo on their Twitter accounts. Neither photos have been removed.

Sonny Bill Williams met a range of Olympic and world sports stars in Rio, including Usain Bolt. Photo / via Twitter

Williams tweeted the photo first, writing: "Meet the 400m world champ today such a humble dude, good luck my South African brother."

It was followed by another tweet congratulating his "brother" on his win.

Van Niekerk also tweeted about the photo, saying: "What a humbling moment meeting you ... blessings."

Sonny Bill Williams and Rafael Nadal in the Olympic village. Photo / via Twitter